I am very picky about which blogs I read (I read yours!), but blogs are like musicians—the best ones stand out. The web will certainly be flooded in the next few years with more and more players writing about what they do. I will keep reading what is engaging and interesting, but there is a point of saturation . . .

There are lots of informal pub gigs or sessions for us, paid at a far lower rate than I see quoted here. The session scene is the seedbed for bands and collaborations that blossom, flourish and fade against the demands of the need to make a living.

The scene is small, cross-fertilization is common, people guest on each others projects and so forth. The audience is also mostly specialized (more so in England) and frequently very knowledgeable. They get the music.

There are many differences as well (mostly cultural, recognition of self-value and social context), but there is some evidence that those who have embraced social media are getting the word out about their work. Those who have not done so risk remaining marginalized, regardless of their expertise.

I am particularly intrigued by the recording and sales ideas you put forward. For example, a rough tape I recorded years ago was copied and passed around freely (with my consent). It raised my profile and I was thinking of putting it up for free download as it was never intended as a commercial project, but maybe I’ll add a “donate” button as well so that people can pay me something if they feel like it.

I play in a ceilidh band, we have a gig next month in a great venue with a full strength line-up and were thinking of recording it. Our music thrives in relaxed social situations, so maybe we can do something more with it.

One downside to your model is the idea that everyone pulls their weight on social media sites to promote a gig or project. Even with many free web tools out there, not everyone is equally up to speed with them and I suspect that it will tend to fall to the most able person to do promo.

Or maybe that’s just the people I happen to play music with.

Thanks for your thoughts. I’m still digesting them!

You don’t have to be a ‘good writer’ to have a blog. It can just be news updates. it takes about 10-20 minutes of your time a week. Don’t take me as an example of what a musician’s blog should be like – I’m a pro journalist and teacher as well as a musician, so writing comes very naturally. Posting gig and album updates, and brief reviews of friend’s CDs doesn’t take writing skill. It’s just a demonstration of a commitment to help build knowledge and excitement about the music you’re making.

But hey, if someone wants to go design and print gig flyers then go and stand on Oxford Street handing them out instead, be my guest…

I don’t think it should concern you as an audience member. But it does concern me as a band-leader, if the people I’m paying to play on a gig aren’t doing what they can to bring in an audience. There just isn’t a big enough residual audience in UK jazz for the gigs to ‘just happen’. We need to work at it, and one person trying to pull a crowd for 4 or 5 people to play to is too much. It’s not going to work.

So as a way of musicians thinking about who they hire in terms other than just ‘how to they play?’ I’ve suggested making sure they are doing their bit. The reason I’ve used blogging as a benchmark is it’s free, it’s easy, it doesn’t require a huge following, it doesn’t say they need to be ‘famous’ or have access to some kind of specialist knowledge. They just need to be actively inviting people to be a part of the music they are playing, and telling them about it. That’s not a tricky thing to do at all.

It’s also not a ‘rule’ – I’m not about to start telling anyone who they can and can’t hire. The point is, there just isn’t the room for us to be complacent about how we reach out to the people who may well love what we do but aren’t about to stumble across it accidentally. If I’m playing a show, everyone I know should also know about it.

In a nutshell

I’m definitely with you on the idea of musicians taking ownership of, and feeling pride in, the projects they’re involved with. (As to whether you can persuade some less-enlightened jazz front-men to treat their bands as more than hired hands, that’s a different matter.. ) As I tried to say perhaps a bit long-windedly in an earlier response, in practise I think this can involve playing in fewer, better projects and situations and turning the other stuff down.

I’m not sure I’d go quite as far as making blogging/tweeting a hiring requirement, although I appreciate your point! I think that even in this social media world it may still be possible that a less web-savvy band member could do his/her publicising more effectively in other ways – promoting your band’s gig dates on a big tour with another band for example, or slipping the band’s name into a radio or print interview.. (Is this Web 2.0 heresy? )

Not to take away from your argument at all, it crossed my mind that one possible jazz gig situation where the “everyone needs to be equally involved” idea might not apply is when you’re hiring someone very much better than you as part of the process of learning jazz.

I think this can sometimes be the case for example when you have a young and/or less experienced house band who’ve landed a decent regular paying gig and are booking different guest front people. In those situations the benefits in experience and learning they get from playing with a really good player could make up for that player’s perhaps not promoting the gig so enthusiastically.

This mental digression aside, I’m enthusiastic about your enthusiasm and ideas!

“Jazz-man is born free, but everywhere he is in function bands..”